Biasing of search result clustering to ensure more effective point of interest (poi) targeting

ABSTRACT

Directory service results responsive to a request for a desired good or service provider may be provided based on one or more user-selected locations. The user may seek a desired good or service provider that is proximate to a location from which the user may begin traveling to the point of interest, referred to as a source location, and satisfies a beneficial objective held by the user. The beneficial objective may relate to, for example, a directional travel preference, avoiding rush hour traffic or proximity to a specific location or another type of good or service provider that differs from the user&#39;s desired good or service provider that is the subject of the user&#39;s request. A sequence of geometrical representations, such as, for example, Delauney Triangles, may be generated to provide directory service results that satisfy the user&#39;s request.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. Provisional Application No.60/794,856, filed Apr. 26, 2006 and titled “Biasing Of Search ResultClustering To Ensure More Effective Point Of Interest (POI) Targeting,”which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document relates to presenting results to a user.

BACKGROUND

Directory services may provide a name and location for a good or serviceprovider in response to a user request. The good or service provider maybe identified by the directory service based on a location provided bythe user as part of the request.

SUMMARY

In a general aspect, a point of interest is provided. A request for apoint of interest is received from a user. The request includes adesired good or service provider and a source location. A beneficialobjective related to the request is identified. At least one beneficialobjective location associated with the identified beneficial objectiveis determined. At least one potential point of interest that satisfiesthe request is determined. The point of interest that best satisfies therequest is provided.

With respect to at least the first general aspect, implementations mayinclude one or more of the following features. For example, a sequenceof geometrical representations may be determined based on the sourcelocation, the at least one beneficial objective location and the atleast one potential point of interest. The point of interest that bestsatisfies the request based on a relationship of the geometricalrepresentations within the sequence may be provided. An indication of asource location for a user may be received. The indication of the sourcelocation may include a detailed source location for the user or anidentifier that points to a detailed source location for the user. Thedetailed source location for the user may be translated into a generalsource location. The sequence of geometrical representations may bedetermined based on the detailed source location, the at least onebeneficial objective location and the at least one potential point ofinterest.

Identifying a beneficial objective related to the request may includereceiving a beneficial objective from a user or inferring a beneficialobjective for a user.

Determining at least one beneficial objective location associated withthe identified beneficial objective may include receiving a beneficialobjective location from the user.

Determining at least one potential point of interest that satisfies therequest may include determining at least one potential point of interestthat is a match for the requested good or service provider, is proximateto the source location and satisfies the beneficial objective. Apotential point of interest may satisfy the beneficial objective if thepotential point of interest is proximate to a beneficial objectivelocation associated with the beneficial objective. Alternatively, apotential point of interest may satisfy the beneficial objective if thepotential point of interest is not proximate to a beneficial objectivelocation associated with the beneficial objective.

The sequence of geometrical representations may include a sequence ofDelauney Triangles, such that a circumcircle about one Delauney Triangledoes not include any edges of any other Delauney Triangles. Determininga sequence of geometrical representations based on the source location,the at least one beneficial objective location and the at least onepotential point of interest may include determining a sequence ofDelauney Triangles where the vertices of the Delauney Triangles aredefined as the source location, the at least one beneficial objectivelocation and the at least one potential point of interest.

The relationship of the geometrical representations within the sequencemay include a relationship between edge length, area and/or circumcircleradius associated with Delauney Triangles in the sequence of DelauneyTriangles. Edge length may include a distance between two vertices of aDelauney Triangle. The edge length, area and circumcircle radiiassociated with Delauney Triangles in the sequence of Delauney Trianglesmay be stored in a data structure configured as a heap.

Determining a sequence of geometrical representations may includegenerating a sequence of geometrical representations.

Implementations of any of the techniques described may include a methodor process, an apparatus or system, or computer software on acomputer-accessible medium. The details of particular implementationsare set forth below. Other features will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from, the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exemplary map showing a series of location points.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary map showing a series of location points andgeometrical representations generated from the location points.

FIG. 3 is a data structure that includes data related to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary communications systemincluding a host configured to retrieve a point of interest for a clientbased on a source location, a desired good or service provider and abeneficial objective location.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are flow charts of exemplary processes for retrieving apoint of interest based on a source location.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary process for retrieving a point ofinterest based on a source location and a beneficial objective.

FIGS. 8A-8D are block diagrams of a dynamic heap data structure.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary map showing a series of location points.

FIG. 10A illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI)enabling a user to enter a source location, a point of interest type anda beneficial objective type in order to retrieve a point of interest.

FIG. 10B illustrates an exemplary GUI enabling a user to enter aspecific beneficial objective location.

FIG. 10C illustrates an exemplary GUI enabling a user to enter aspecific type of good or service provider related to a beneficialobjective.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary GUI enabling a user to perceive pointof interest results retrieved based on information provided by the user.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary GUI enabling an administrator to add anew good or service provider and/or a new beneficial objective locationof a high or low population area to a data store.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A directory service may enable a user to find a desired good or serviceprovider that is located proximate to a particular location selected bythe user, such as, for example, the user's home, office, presentlocation or another desired location. The provider returned by thedirectory service may be referred to as a point of interest and theuser-selected location may be referred to as a source location. Forexample, a user may wish to find a dry-cleaner that is proximate to theuser's office. Several dry-cleaners may be located within a comfortablewalking distance from the user's office and a directory service mayprovide a list of the dry-cleaners.

However, the list of dry-cleaners provided by the directory service maynot take into account a preference on the part of the user for travel ina particular direction from the user's source location. A directionalpreference may result from the user's desire to achieve another goal,such as, for example, visiting another location en rout; avoiding hightraffic areas, or traveling in one part of town over another. The user'sother goal may be referred to as a beneficial objective. Thus, inaddition to seeking a desired good or service provider near auser-selected location, a user also may seek a location of the desiredgood or service provider that satisfies a beneficial objective.

For example, a user may seek a dry-cleaner that is both proximate to theuser's office and near a sandwich shop. The sandwich shop, or, moreparticularly, eating lunch during the user's lunch hour, may be theuser's beneficial objective. In a more particular example, a user maywish to drop off the user's dirty laundry at a dry-cleaner en route tothe user's favorite sandwich shop, which is located Northeast from theuser's office. Here, visiting the user's favorite sandwich shop may bethe user's beneficial objective and the location of the favoritesandwich shop may be referred to as a beneficial objective location. Inthis example, a dry-cleaner that is located Northeast from the user'soffice, preferably between the office and the sandwich shop so that theuser need not carry dirty laundry into the sandwich shop, may be theservice provider that is the most responsive to the user's request for adesired good or service provider because it is both proximate to theuser's source location and satisfies the user's beneficial objective.

Techniques are described to provide directory service results (or pointsof interest) based on one or more locations selected by a user. Forexample, a user may seek a desired good or service provider (i.e., apoint of interest) that is proximate to a location from which the usermay begin traveling to the point of interest (i.e., the user's sourcelocation) and satisfies a beneficial objective held by the user (i.e.,the user's other goals). In some implementations, a user may be enabledto provide more than one beneficial objective.

To quantify the beneficial objective, a user may provide a beneficialobjective location. For example, a user may provide a beneficialobjective of “sandwich shop,” or the user may provide a beneficialobjective of “my favorite sandwich shop located at 123 B Street,Washington, D.C. 20006.” Thus, the beneficial objective location may bea specific location requested by the user, such as the location of theuser's favorite sandwich shop. The beneficial objective location mayrepresent a low population or light traffic area. For example, a usermay seek a good or service provider outside a crowded area of town. Inthis example, the beneficial objective location may be a center of a lowpopulation area.

The source location may include locations other than a user's home oroffice, such as the user's current location, a vacation spot, a familymember's home town or the location of a previous errand. The sourcelocation may be derived automatically from a mobile device such as acell phone, personal data assistant or multimedia device. In someimplementations, a directory service may include a default configurationthat does not typically provide directory service results, or points ofinterest, that are outside a threshold distance from a user's sourcelocation.

As such, the particular point of interest provided by a directoryservice to the user as the point of interest that is most responsive tothe user's request may take into account several different locations.For example, the desired good or service provider returned by thedirectory service may take into account (1) a source location, (2) abeneficial objective location and (3) locations of known good or serviceproviders of the type requested by the user.

Thus, a geometrical representation, such as a Delauney Triangle, may beused to determine which of several locations of a desired good orservice provider may be most responsive to a user's request based on themultiple locations associated with the request. In general, the processof creating Delauney Triangles among multiple points or locations,referred to as Delauney Triangulation, is the most efficient way to drawtriangles between multiple points. Each point may be connected by linesto its closest neighbors such that the lines form triangles, the linesdo not otherwise intersect, and none of the triangles overlap.

A Delauney Triangle may be drawn between a source location, beneficialobjective location and the point of interest that is most responsive tothe user's request for a desired good or service provider in that it isproximate to the source location and satisfies the beneficial objective(i.e., it is proximate or not proximate to the beneficial objectivelocation). For example, the source location and the beneficial objectivelocation (if the beneficial objective is to find a point of interestnear another user-specified location or a high population area) may betwo vertices of the Delauney Triangle, and the point of interestreturned by the directory service may be the third vertex of theDelauney Triangle. In this example, the goal is to minimize the area ofthe Delauney Triangle having these three vertices such that the point ofinterest is proximate to both the source location and the beneficialobjective location.

Alternatively, if the beneficial objective is to find a point ofinterest that is located outside a high population or high traffic areaidentified by a beneficial objective location, a directory service mayreturn a point of interest result that satisfies the third vertex of aDelauney Triangle having a maximized area. Thus, the point of interestmay be proximate to the source location, but not proximate to thebeneficial objective location of the high population or high trafficarea.

For example, a user may seek a dry-cleaner proximate to the user'soffice and also proximate to the user's favorite sandwich shop. In thisexample, a Delauney Triangle may be generated having as its threevertices (1) the office location (i.e., source location), (2) thelocation of the sandwich shop (i.e., the beneficial objective location)and (3) the location of the one dry-cleaner that is most responsive tothe user's request (i.e., the point of interest). To determine the pointof interest that is most responsive to the user's request, severalDelauney Triangles may be generated, each having at its third vertex alocation of a dry-cleaner that is within a certain threshold distancefrom the source location (e.g., within the same city, town or zip code).The Delauney Triangle having the smallest area of the generated DelauneyTriangles may be determined, and the corresponding point of interest maybe returned as being the most responsive to the user's request.

In another example, a user may seek a dry-cleaner that is located awayfrom restaurants serving lunch in order to avoid waiting in line. Inthis example, a Delauney Triangle may be generated having as its threevertices (1) the office location (i.e., source location), (2) thepopulation center of the town or perhaps just the center of a downtownneighborhood (i.e., the beneficial objective location) and (3) thelocation of the dry-cleaner that is most responsive to the user'srequest. As described above, several Delauney Triangles may begenerated, each having at its third vertex a different location of adry-cleaner. However, in this example, because the beneficial objectiveis to determine a dry-cleaner that is not proximate to the beneficialobjective location, the point of interest at the third vertex of theDelauney Triangle having the largest area may be determined as the pointof interest most responsive to the user's request.

Alternatively, for the same example, the beneficial objective locationmay be represented by the center of a town or neighborhood that has asmall population or low levels of traffic. In this example, the DelauneyTriangle having the smallest area may include the point of interest thatis most responsive to the user's request because the point of interestmay be proximate to the source location and a low population area,rather than not proximate to a high population area.

In one implementation, a user may perform a search for a desired good orservice provider via a graphical user interface (“GUI”). In oneconfiguration, the inputs to the GUI include a source location (e.g.,office location), a beneficial objective (e.g., near a sandwich shop) orbeneficial objective location (e.g., location of a sandwich shop), and adesired good or service provider (e.g., a dry-cleaner). The user mayenter detailed location information for the source location and thebeneficial objective location. The detailed location information mayinclude a street address, two cross-streets in a particular town, acity, and/or a zip code. The detailed location information may betranslated to general location information, such as a neighborhood, atown, a city, or a zip code. Alternatively, the user may enter generallocation information for the source location and the beneficialobjective location.

Once received, the general location information for the source locationand the beneficial objective location may be provided to a structuredquery engine. The structured query engine may enable retrieval of valuesrelated to Delauney Triangle creation, analysis and organization. In oneimplementation, Delauney Triangles may be generated before receipt of asource location and a beneficial objective location. Alternatively,Delauney Triangles may be generated upon receipt of a source locationand a beneficial objective location.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary map showing a series of location points. Moreparticularly, FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary map 100 including locationpoints representing a source location (Home 110), beneficial objectivelocations (Town A 130 and Town B 150) and locations related to a desiredgood or service provider (Movies A 120 and Movies B 140).

A user residing at Home 110 may wish to find a movie theater where theuser can catch the new George Clooney film. In this example, the usermay provide Home 110 as a source location. The user also may indicate a“movie theater” as a desired good or service provider. In addition toseeking a movie theater, the user may have a beneficial objective ofeating dinner at a restaurant near the movie theater. Thus, the user mayindicate “restaurants near the movie theater” as the user's beneficialobjective.

Based on the provided beneficial objective, one or more beneficialobjective locations may be determined. For the beneficial objective ofeating dinner at a restaurant near the movie theater, beneficialobjective locations that include many restaurants may be determined. Forexample, Town A 130 and Town B 150 may be identified as high populationareas, and thus may include a wide variety of restaurants. As such, TownA 130 and Town B 150 may be used as beneficial objective locations.

One of Movies A 120 and Movies B 140, which represent movie theaters,may be provided to the user as a point of interest because both Movies A120 and Movies B 140 are proximate to the source location of Home 110and the beneficial objective locations of Town A 130 and Town B 150. Todetermine which of Movies A 120 or Movies B 140 may be returned to theuser as the point of interest that is most responsive to the user'srequest, geographical representations, such as Delauney Triangles, maybe used.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary map showing a series of location points andgeometrical representations generated from the location points. Moreparticularly, FIG. 2 includes an exemplary map 200 including locationpoints representing a source location (Home 210), beneficial objectivelocations (Town A 230 and Town B 250) and locations related to a desiredgood or service provider (Movies A 220 and Movies B 240). Map 200 alsoincludes geographical representations that have been generated about thelocation points.

More particularly, map 200 includes Delauney Triangles drawn between thelocation points. A Delauney Triangle may be used as a geometricalrepresentation to determine a point of interest that satisfies a user'srequest for a desired good or service provider. Creating DelauneyTriangles, referred to as Delauney Triangulation, may be an efficientway to associate more than one location by generating triangles betweenlocation points using lines to connect the location points. However, ageometrical representation may not be referred to as a Delauney Triangleunless the representation satisfies two properties that are referred toas the Delauney properties or principles. First, a line may be drawnfrom a point to the point's closest neighboring point such that alllines form triangles and no triangles overlap or intersect in any way.Second, a circumscribed circle, also referred to as a circumcircle, maybe drawn around each triangle such that, apart from the vertices, thereare no other points on or inside the circumscribed circle of anytriangle. The Delauney Triangles of map 200 satisfy these properties.

Similar to the example described above with respect to FIG. 1, a usermay seek a movie theater, such as Movies A 220 or Movies B 240, that isproximate to Home 210 and also proximate to restaurants where the usercan eat dinner before the movie, represented by Town A 230 and Town B250, both of which have been determined to be high population areas thatmay include a wide variety of restaurants. Once the location points havebeen identified, Delauney Triangles may be generated between Home 210and each set of beneficial objective locations and locations related toa desired good or services.

Two triangles may be generated to connect the location points of map200. Triangle A includes vertices of Home 210, Movies A 220, and Town A230, Triangle B includes vertices of Home 210, Movies B 240, and Town B250. Triangle A and triangle B do not intersect or overlap. Acircumcircle may be generated about each of triangle A and triangle B.As shown, the only points on the circle for triangle A are the verticesof triangle A and the only points on the circle for triangle B are thevertices of triangle B. Additionally, the vertices of triangle A do notfall within the circle for triangle B and the vertices of triangle B donot fall within the circle for triangle A. As such, triangle A andtriangle B may be classified as Delauney Triangles.

Because Delauney Triangles may be generated about a series of locationpoints to determine a point of interest that is both proximate to asource location and satisfies a beneficial objective (e.g., is proximateor not proximate to a beneficial objective location), triangle A andtriangle B may be the only triangles that may be generated within map200. A triangle having at its vertices Home 210, Movies A 220 and MoviesB 240, or a triangle having at its vertices Home 210, Town A 230 andTown B 250, may violate one or more of the Delauney principles. Forexample, an edge of a triangle having at its vertices Home 210, Town A230 and Town B 250, may overlap or intersect with one or more oftriangle A and triangle B. In addition, a triangle having at itsvertices Home 210, Movies A 220 and Movies B 240, or a triangle havingat its vertices Home 210, Town A 230 and Town B 250 may not be generatedwithin map 200, and thus the potential violation of the Delauneyprinciple need not be considered, because such a triangle would fail toinclude at its vertices a source location, a beneficial objectivelocation and a potential point of interest. For example, a trianglehaving at its vertices Home 210, Movies A 220 and Movies B 240 does notinclude a beneficial objective location, and a triangle having at itsvertices Home 210, Town A 230 and Town B 250 does not include apotential point of interest. Thus, neither of these triangles would beuseful in determining a point of interest that is both proximate to asource location and satisfies a beneficial objective.

FIG. 3 is a data structure that includes data related to map 200 of FIG.2. More particularly, FIG. 3 is a data structure 300 that includesparameters related to the location points (or objects), DelauneyTriangles and circumcircles of map 200 of FIG. 2. A relationship betweenthe Delauney Triangles and circumcircles of map 200 also may beperceived from the data of data structure 300.

Data structure 300 includes columns for information related to PotentialBeneficial Objective Locations 310, Potential Points of Interest 320,Length of Edge Between Source Location and Potential BeneficialObjective Location 330, Length of Edge Between Source Location andPotential Point of Interest 340, and Radius of Circumcircle 350. Datastructure 300 also includes row A and row B.

Data under the column for Potential Beneficial Objective Locations 310includes Town A for row A and Town B for row B. If a user provided abeneficial objective location, such as, for example, an address of aparticular restaurant, the entries in each of rows A and B may beidentical. Alternatively, if a user did not specify a beneficialobjective location, and merely indicated a beneficial objective of, forexample, restaurants near the movie theater, entries in row A and row Bmay represent multiple beneficial objective locations that satisfy theprovided beneficial objective.

Data under the Potential Points of Interest 320 column includes Movies Afor row A and Movies B for row B. Movies A and Movies B are locations ofa desired good or service provider that satisfy the user's request, andthus are potential points of interest.

Data under the Length of Edge Between Source Location and PotentialBeneficial Objective Location 330 include L(BOLa) for row A and L(BOLb)for row B. L(BOLx) represents the length of the edge, or line, generatedbetween the source location and the beneficial objective location forrow x (e.g., row A or row B). Data under the Length of Edge BetweenSource Location and Potential Point of Interest 340 column includeL(POIa) for row A and L(POIb) for row B. L(POIx) represents the lengthof the edge, or line, generated between the source location and thepotential point of interest for row x (e.g., row A or row B). In someimplementations, the length of an edge may be a true distance betweenlocation points. In other implementations, the length of an edge may besome representation of the distance between location points, such as ascaled distance value.

Data under the Radius of Circumcircle 350 column includes R(a) for row Aand R(b) for row B. R(x) represents the size of a circumcircle, asrepresented by the radius of the circle, surrounding a particularDelauney Triangle generated between a source location, a beneficialobjective location and a location related to a desired good or serviceof row x (e.g., row A or row B). For example, R(a) represents the radiusof the circumcircle drawn about a Delauney Triangle having at its threevertices (1) Home, (2) Town A and (3) Movies A.

Although the values as shown in data structure 300 do not representparticular numeric values, the relationship between the values maydetermine which of the generated Delauney Triangles yields the point ofinterest that is most responsive to a user's request. For example, ifthe values relating to Triangle A are much greater than the valuesrelating to Triangle B, such that if R(a) is significantly larger thanR(b), the location related to a desired good or service provider lyingat a vertex of Triangle B may be selected as the point of interest inresponse to the user's request in an example where the area of atriangle is to be minimized to determine a point of interest (i.e., tofind a point of interest that is proximate to a source location andsatisfies a beneficial objective by being proximate to a beneficialobjective location).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary communications system 400where a host 430 is configured to retrieve a point of interest for aclient 410 based on a source location, a desired good or serviceprovider and a beneficial objective location. Generally, the client 410displays one or more GUIs (e.g., the GUIs described in FIGS. 10-12) toenable a user to provide a desired good or service provider, a sourcelocation and a beneficial objective or a beneficial objective locationto host 430 such that a structured query engine on host 430 may retrievea point of interest for client 410.

Each of the client 410 and the host 430 may be implemented by, forexample, a general-purpose computer capable of responding to andexecuting instructions in a defined manner, a personal computer, aspecial-purpose computer, a workstation, a server, a device, acomponent, other equipment or some combination thereof capable ofresponding to and executing instructions. The client 410 and host 430may be configured to receive instructions from, for example, a softwareapplication, a program, a piece of code, a device, a computer, acomputer system, or a combination thereof, which independently orcollectively direct operations, as described herein. The instructionsmay be embodied permanently or temporarily in any type of machine,component, equipment, storage medium that is capable of being deliveredto the client 410 or the host 430.

The client 410 may include one or more devices capable of accessingcontent on the host 430. The host 410 may include a general-purposecomputer (e.g., a personal computer (PC)) capable of responding to andexecuting instructions in a defined manner, a workstation, a notebookcomputer, a PDA (“Personal Digital Assistant”), a wireless phone, acomponent, other equipment, or some combination of these items that iscapable of responding to and executing instructions.

In one implementation, the client 410 includes one or more informationretrieval software applications (e.g., a browser, a mail application, aninstant messaging client, an Internet service provider client, a mediaplayer, or an AOL TV or other integrated client) capable of receivingone or more data units. The information retrieval applications may runon a general-purpose operating system and a hardware platform thatincludes a general-purpose processor and specialized hardware forgraphics, communications and/or other capabilities. In anotherimplementation, the client 410 may include a wireless telephone runninga micro-browser application on a reduced operating system with isgeneral purpose and specialized hardware capable of operating in mobileenvironments.

More particularly, client 410 may include one or more graphical userinterfaces (“GUIs”) such that a user may be provided with a point ofinterest in response to providing a source location, a beneficialobjective (optionally including a beneficial objective location) and adesired good or service provider. The GUIs may be rendered on client 410by, for example, a software program or an Internet webpage.

The user may enter location information into the GUI in detail orgenerally. In one implementation, if the user enters detailed locationinformation, such as, for example, a street address, client 410 maytranslate the detailed location information into general locationinformation, such as, for example, a town, neighborhood or zip code,before providing the location information to host 430. In anotherimplementation, client 410 may provide the detailed location informationto host 430 and host 430 may translate the detailed location informationinto general location information.

Similarly, the GUI may be configured to enable a user to provide eithergeneral location information or detailed location information for abeneficial objective location. Alternatively, the GUI may be configuredto receive a beneficial objective that is not associated with aparticular location. For example, a user's beneficial objective may beto eat dinner near a movie theater, but the user may not have a specificrestaurant or location of a restaurant in mind. In yet anotherimplementation, client 410 may be configured to provide a beneficialobjective location by default, that is, without any user input. Forexample, client 410 may be configured to provide a beneficial objectivelocation of a user's home when the user submits a request for a desiredgood or service provider around 5:00 PM on a weekday with a sourcelocation of the user's office in an attempt to guess that the user isheaded home and wishes the good or service provider location returned asa point of interest to be on the way home.

The network 420 includes hardware and/or software capable of enablingdirect or indirect communications between the client 410 and the host430. As such, the network 420 may include a direct link between theclient 410 and the host 430, or it may include one or more networks orsub networks between them (not shown). Each network or sub network mayinclude, for example, a wired or wireless data pathway capable ofcarrying and receiving data. Examples of the delivery network includethe Internet, the World Wide Web, a WAN (“Wide Area Network”), a LAN(“Local Area Network”), analog or digital wired and wireless telephonenetworks, radio, television, cable, satellite, and/or any other deliverymechanism for carrying data.

The host 430 generally includes one or more devices configured toretrieve a point of interest based on a source location, a desired goodor service provider and a beneficial objective or beneficial objectivelocation. Typically, the host 430 includes maps of various locationpoints and a structured query engine. The host 430 may include ageneral-purpose computer having a central processor unit (CPU), andmemory/storage devices that store data and various programs such as anoperating system and one or more application programs. Other examples ofa host 430 includes a workstation, a server, a special purpose device orcomponent, a broadcast system, other equipment, or some combinationthereof capable of responding to and executing instructions in a definedmanner. The host 430 also may include an input/output (I/O) device(e.g., video and audio input and conversion capability) and peripheralequipment such as a communications card or device (e.g., a modem or anetwork adapter) for exchanging data with the network 420.

The host 430 is generally capable of executing instructions under thecommand of a controller. The host 430 may be used to provide content tothe client 410. The controller may be implemented by a softwareapplication loaded on the host 430 for commanding and directingcommunications exchanged with the client 410. Other examples of thecontroller include a program, a piece of code, an instruction, a device,a computer, a computer system, or a combination thereof, forindependently or collectively instructing the client 410 or the host 430to interact and operate as described. The host 430 may be embodiedpermanently or temporarily in any type of machine, component, physicalor virtual equipment, storage medium, or propagated signal capable ofproviding instructions to the client 410 or the host 430.

Host 430 may be configured to include a structured query engine toretrieve a point of interest in response to a user request on client410. The structured query engine may be configured to receive the userinputs provided by client 410 via network 420 to host 430. The inputsprovided to the structured query engine may include a source location, abeneficial objective (which may include a beneficial objective location)and a desired good or service provider. Location information provided tothe structured query engine may include detailed location information astranslated by client 410 or host 430 if provided by the user as generallocation information.

In response to receiving user inputs from client 410, the structuredquery engine may be configured to return to host 430 a point of interestthat is most responsive to the user's request. To do so, the structuredquery engine may generate one or more geometrical representationsconnecting location points represented by the user's inputs. Thegeometrical representations may be Delauney Triangles, for example, asdiscussed above with respect to FIGS. 1-3. The Delauney Triangles may begenerated to include the source location and the beneficial objectivelocation as two of the vertices. The third vertex of each generatedDelauney Triangle may be a good or service provider that is a potentialpoint of interest. The good or service provider that is returned toclient 410 as the point of interest may be determined based on the areaof the generated Delauney Triangles.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary process 500 for retrieving apoint of interest based on a source location. Generally, the operationsshown in flow chart 500 may be used in conjunction with the systems andconfigurations described with respect to FIGS. 1-4. Similarly, theoperations of flow chart 500 may use the GUIs described below withrespect to FIGS. 10-13. For convenience, particular components describedearlier, such as host 430 of FIG. 4, are referenced as performing theprocess. However, similar methodologies may be applied in otherimplementations where different components are used to define thestructure of the system, or where the functionality is distributeddifferently among the components shown.

Initially, host 430 accesses a data store that includes locationinformation for one or more objects (510). An object may refer to alocation point, such as, for example, a source location. Locationinformation may include detailed or general source location information,beneficial objective locations and locations related to desired good orservice providers.

In some implementations, a particular object may be classified as asource location, a beneficial objective location or a desired good orservice provider location depending on a user's request. For example, ina first request for a restaurant, a user may indicate a source locationof Home and a beneficial objective location of Office, lithe user seeksa restaurant where the user may get a bagel for breakfast on the wayinto the office. In a second request, however, a user may indicate asource location of Office and a beneficial objective location of Home ifthe user seeks a restaurant from which the user can pick up dinner onthe way home. However, because the object location information in thedata store is generic (that is, not related to a particular userrequest), an object may include information related to the object'sclassification (e.g., source location, beneficial objective location ordesired good or service provider location) based on, for example, theclassification of the object in one or more previous searches by anyuser, one or more previous searches by a particular user or some othercriteria. For example, an address that is known to be a residence (andnot a business of any sort) may not be classifiable as a good or serviceprovider.

Host 430 generates a sequence of geometrical representations, which maybe, for example, Delauney Triangles, where each geometricalrepresentation in the sequence is based at least in part on locationinformation for at least three objects (520). The three objects mayinclude a source location, a beneficial objective location and alocation related to a desired good or service provider. However, becausethe user has not yet provided a source location, beneficial objectivelocation or a desired good or service provider related to a particularsearch, the three objects on which each geometrical representation inthe sequence of geometrical representations is based may merely be apotential source location, a beneficial objective location and alocation related to a desired good or service provider. As such,geometrical representations may be generated among all, or a subset, ofthe objects stored in the location information data store describedabove. A particular object may belong to more than one geometricalrepresentation, particularly when the object may be any one of the threetypes of objects depending on the context of a user's search.

For at least some of the geometrical representations in the sequence,host 430 determines values for edges, or lines, between two objects inthe geographical representation (530). For example, host 430 maydetermine the length of an edge between a first object and a secondobject or between a first object and a third object. Host 430 loads thedetermined values into a structured query engine (540).

Once the values are loaded, the host 430 uses the structured queryengine to receive a source location related to a particular user request(550). In one implementation, host 430 may directly receive a sourcelocation as it was provided to the structured query engine by a user. Inanother implementation, the structured query engine may receive adetailed source location from a user, which is then translated into ageneral source location that is provided to host 430.

Host 430 then may determine whether the received source locationincludes the same location information as one of the objects on whichthe sequence of geometrical representations is based. Host 430 may makethis determination based on a hash table that includes information aboutthe objects in the sequence.

If so, the particular object that is a match for the source location maybe associated with the received source location. If none of the objectson which the sequence of geometrical representations is based includesthe same location information as the received source location, host 430may employ techniques, such as, for example, a k-d tree, to determine anobject (referred to as a closest object) within the sequence that iscloser to the received source location than any other object in thesequence. A k-d tree is a multidimensional search tree that has k keysfor points in k-dimensional space. Once the closest object has beendetermined, the closest object may be associated with the sourcelocation.

Host 430 then may provide the user with a point of interest in responseto at least receiving the source location from the user, or determiningthe closest object. More particularly, the host 430 may identify a pointof interest based on one or more geometrical representations to which atleast the source location (e.g., closest object) belongs.

As an alternative to process 500, a sequence of geometricalrepresentations, such as Delauney Triangles, may be dynamicallygenerated after at least a source location is received from a user. Inthis example, the objects on which the sequence may be based are objectsthat correspond to information provided by the user. For example, if auser provides a source location and a beneficial objective location,host 430 may generate a sequence of geometrical representations, all ofwhich include an object that corresponds to the source location and anobject that corresponds to a beneficial objective location. There mayonly be one source location (since the source location is apre-determined location), while there may be more than one beneficialobject location (e.g., a user's beneficial objective may be to eat lunchat a sandwich shop before dropping of the user's dry cleaning, and assuch, any sandwich shop may be a potential beneficial objectivelocation). Once the sequence is generated, host 430 then may determine apoint of interest to provide to the user based only on the geometricalrepresentations generated for the instant, particular search.

FIG. 6 is flow chart of a more detailed exemplary process 600 forretrieving a point of interest based on a source location. Theoperations of process 600 also may be performed by host 430 of FIG. 4.

Host 430 accesses a data store with location information for one or moreobjects (610). As discussed above with respect to FIG. 5, locationinformation may include detailed or general source location information,beneficial objective locations and locations related to desired good orservice providers. In other words, the location information of the datastore may include location information (e.g., addresses) for a sourcelocation entered by a user. For example, the data store may include ahome address for a user that may be retrieved whenever the user providesa source location of “home.” Location information in the data store alsomay include location information for locations related to desired goodor service providers, such as, for example, addresses for movie theaterswithin a certain threshold distance of a user's source location, whichmay be retrieved when a user requests a movie theater as a desired goodor service provider.

Host 430 generates a sequence of Delauney Triangles, where each DelauneyTriangle in the sequence is based at least in part on locationinformation that includes at least three objects (620). The threeobjects may include a source location, a beneficial objective location,and a location related to a desired good or service provider. Also, asdescribed above, in some cases the objects may only include a potentialsource location, beneficial objective locations and locations related toa desired good or service provider.

For at least some of the Delauney Triangles in the sequence, host 430may determine the length of an edge between two objects in the DelauneyTriangle (630). For example, host 430 may determine the length of theedge between a potential source location and a potential desired good orservice provider location.

Host 430 loads the edge length values into a structured query engine(640) configured as a heap data structure. A heap is a data structurebased on the notion of a complete binary tree, as described in moredetail below with respect to FIG. 8.

Once the values are loaded, the host 430 uses the structured queryengine to receive a source location (650). In one implementation, host430 may directly receive a source location provided by a user to thestructured query engine. For example, a user may provide a home zip code(i.e., a general source location) to be used as the source location. inanother implementation, the structured query engine may receive adetailed source location that may be translated into a general sourcelocation. For example, a user may enter a complete home address to beused as the source location. In this case, the detailed source location(e.g., the user's home address) may be translated into a general sourcelocation (e.g., the city in which the user's home is located asrepresented, for example, by the home address zip code).

Host 430 then may access a hash table to determine whether the receivedsource location includes location information that is the same as thatassociated with one of the objects on which the sequence of DelauneyTriangles is based. For example, the user's source location may be ahome address of 123 C Street, Washington, D.C. 20006. Host 430 mayaccess a hash table to determine if an object includes a location of 123C Street, Washington, D.C. 20006.

If so, the matching object may be associated with the received sourcelocation. If not, host 430 may employ a k-d tree to determine a closestobject to be associated with the received source location. As describedabove, a closest object represents an object that is closer to thereceived source location than any other object in the sequence ofDelauney Triangles. For example, the hash table may indicate that anobject has a location of 140 C Street, Washington, D.C. 20006. The 140 CStreet object may be closer to 123 C Street than any other object, andthus, may be associated with the source location.

Host 430 then may provide the user with an identity of a point ofinterest in response to receiving a source location from the user, anddetermining a matching object or a closest object for the receivedsource location. For example, the structured query engine may determinethat a particular desired good or service (e.g., the ABC movie theater)satisfies a beneficial objective (e.g., near restaurants) and isproximate to a source location (e.g., the user's home address of 123 CStreet, Washington, D.C. 20006 if a matching object exists, or theclosest object having a location at 140 C Street, Washington, D.C.20006). Host 430 may provide the user with location information, such asa street address, cross-streets, and/or a map or driving directions, forthe ABC movie theater as the point of interest that is most responsiveto the user's request.

Similar to that described above, an alternative process may includedynamically generating a sequence of Delauney Triangles after at least asource location, such as the user's home address, is received from auser. In this example, the objects on which the sequence may be basedare objects that literally correspond to information provided by theuser. For example, if a user provides a source location of 123 C Street,Washington, D.C. 20006 and a beneficial objective location of “nearrestaurants,” host 430 may generate a sequence of Delauney Trianglesthat each include an object that corresponds to the source location(e.g., the user's home address) and an object that corresponds to abeneficial objective location (e.g., the location of a town orneighborhood center that has been determined to include a variety ofrestaurants). There may only be one source location (since the sourcelocation is a pre-determined location), while there may be more than onebeneficial object location (e.g., any town or neighborhood center thatincludes a variety of restaurants may be a potential beneficialobjective location). Once the sequence is generated, host 430 then maydetermine a point of interest to provide to the user based only on thegeometrical representations generated for the instant, particularsearch.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an exemplary process 700 for retrieving apoint of interest based on a source location and a beneficial objective.The operations of process 700 also may be performed by host 430 of FIG.4.

During the operations of processes 500 and 600, host 430 retrieves apoint of interest based on a source location. During the operations ofprocess 700, host 430 retrieves a point of interest based on a sourcelocation and a beneficial objective or a beneficial objective location.

Host 430 identifies a desired good or service provider for a user (710).For example, a user may provide “movie theater” as a desired good orservice provider.

Host 430 identifies a beneficial objective related to the desired goodor service provider for the user (720). In some implementations, a usermay provide a beneficial objective location, such as, for example, aname or location of a particular restaurant, the user's office, or aparticular corner or pair of cross-streets. In another example, a usermay indicate a preference for a high or low population area as abeneficial objective in order to avoid traffic and long lines (such asmay occur in a high population area) or ensure there are plenty ofactivities near the desired good or service provider (such as also mayoccur in a high population area). In this case, host 430 may access adata store that includes objects to be used as beneficial objectivelocations for high or low population areas.

In some implementations, a user may provide a beneficial objective thatis not related to a particular location. For example, a user may providea beneficial objective that is, itself, a good or service provider, butis different than the desired good or service provider provided by theuser in the request. For example, the user may provide “near Chineserestaurant” as the user's beneficial objective, while the desired goodor service provider is a dry-cleaner. In other implementations, abeneficial objective may be inferred for a user by host 430. Forexample, and as described above, host 430 may be configured to provide abeneficial objective location of a user's home address and a sourcelocation of the user's office when the user submits a request for adesired good or service provider around 5:00 PM on a weekday in anattempt to guess that the user is headed home and wishes the good orservice provider location returned as a point of interest to be on theway home.

Host 430 identifies beneficial objects associated with a beneficialobjective and determines beneficial objective locations associated withthe beneficial objective when none have been received from the user(730). If a user has provided a beneficial objective location,beneficial objects may be limited to the one beneficial object relatedto the particular beneficial objective location specified. If nobeneficial objective location has been provided, for example, if theuser has entered “near Chinese restaurant” as a beneficial objective,host 430 may identify at least one beneficial object and relatedbeneficial objective location for the beneficial objective. In otherwords, host 430 may identify one or more particular Chinese restaurantsthat are proximate to the desired good or service provider as beneficialobjects, and the locations of the Chinese restaurants as beneficialobjective locations.

Host 430 may receive a detailed source location for a user (740). Insome implementations, a user may enter a home address as a sourcelocation. The home address may include detailed source locationinformation, such as a street address, city, state, and zip code. Insome implementations, a user may indicate that “home” is the user'ssource location. Location information related to “home” may be stored ina data store and retrieved for use as the source location in thisscenario. For example, the user's detailed home address may be retrievedin response to the user entering “home” as a source location.

In response to receiving a detailed source location, host 430 translatesthe detailed source location into a general source location (750). Forexample, if a source location includes a particular address, such as auser's home address, host 430 may translate the particular address intogeneral source location information that includes cross-streets, aneighborhood, a town, a city, a state or a zip code. Alternatively, auser may provide general source location information rather thandetailed source location information. In this implementation, host 430may not translate the source location information provided by the userinto detailed source location information, but may still translate thesource location into another format.

Host 430 generates a sequence of Delauney Triangles based on a sourcelocation, a location related to a desired good or service provider and abeneficial objective location (760). More particularly, more than oneDelauney Triangle may be generated such that the vertices of thetriangles include the source location, a location related to a desiredgood or service provider, and a beneficial objective location. Forexample, one such Delauney Triangle may include a user's home location,a location related to the ABC Movie Theater, and a location related tothe Good Food Chinese Restaurant as the vertices of the triangle.

In implementations where a sequence of Delauney Triangles is generatedprior to receipt of a particular search by a user, once the generalsource location is determined, host 430 may access a hash table todetermine if an object on which the sequence of Delauney Triangles isbased includes the same location information as the general sourcelocation information. If so, the matching object maybe the identified asthe source location. If not, host 430 may use a k-d tree, as describedabove, to determine a closest object to be used as the source location.In either case, any point of interest that may be returned to the userwill be one of the vertices of a Delauney Triangle that has thedetermined matching or closest object as one of its other vertices. Insome implementations, Delauney Triangles that include the matchingobject or the closest object as a vertex may be the only DelauneyTriangles generated in the sequence.

Regardless of when the sequence of Delauney Triangles is generated, forat least some of the Delauney Triangles in the sequence, host 430determines values for edges between two objects in the Delauney Triangle(770). For example, the length of the edge between a source location anda beneficial objective location or the length of an edge between asource location and a location related to a desired good or serviceprovider may be determined. The edge values are loaded into a structuredquery engine (780). For example, length information for the edges in thesequence of Delauney Triangles may be loaded into a structured queryengine.

The structured query engine provides a point of interest that is mostresponsive to the user's request (790). In other words, the structuredquery engine may determine, based on the edge length information, that aparticular good or service provider is most responsive to the user'srequest for a desired good or service provider in that it is proximateto the user's source location and satisfies the user's beneficialobjective. For example, the structured query engine may determine thatthe ABC Movie Theater is most responsive to the user's request for amovie theater because it is proximate to the user's home and also near aChinese restaurant. In some implementations, the structured query enginemay provide a beneficial objective location in addition to providing apoint of interest. For example, the structured query engine may provideboth a point of interest of “ABC Movie Theater” and a beneficialobjective location of “Good Food Chinese Restaurant,”

FIGS. 8A-8D are block diagrams of a dynamic heap data structures 800.Data structures may be used to store a collection of information incomputer memory. The information may be stored in the data structuresuch that a host, such as host 430, may easily access a particularportion of the information in the collection using an identifier thathas been associated with the particular portion of the information.

Data structures may be static or dynamic. Static data structures requirethat the maximum number of data items that may be stored in thecollection is known when the data structure is created. In contrast,data items may be added to, or deleted from, a dynamic data structureafter the dynamic data structure has been created. Lists, stacks, arraysand trees are all examples of a dynamic data structure.

A heap, which is a special type of tree data structure, is also anexample of a dynamic data structure. The simplest tree data structure isa binary tree. Binary trees have a node at the top, called a root node,and left and right sub-trees that are themselves binary trees. Forexample, in heap (or tree) 800 of FIG. 8A, node Z is the root node ofheap 800 of FIG. 8A and nodes L and R are the root nodes of the left andright sub-trees, respectively.

A complete tree is also a type of tree data structure. A tree mayinclude one or more leaves. A leaf refers to any node in the lowestlevel of the tree that is not a root of any sub-tree. In a completetree, each leaf is the same distance or height from the root node. Forexample, in heap 800 of FIG. 8A, nodes A, J, E and Y are each the samedistance (e.g., 2 levels) from root node Z, and thus, each of nodes A,J, E and Y is a leaf of heap 800.

A heap is a binary tree, specifically a complete binary tree, that hasthe heap property A tree has the heap property if, and only if, (1) thetree is empty or (2) a key associated with each node of the tree islarger than a key associated with one of the two children of the nodeand both sub-trees have the heap property. A key associated with a nodeis an identifier that relates to a priority of a node. For example, thekey associated with root node Z (“key(Z)”), is greater than the keysassociated with either child node L (“key(L)”) or child node R(“key(R)”). In other words, key(Z)>key(L) and key(Z)>key(R).

The data items stored in heap 800 of FIG. 8A as nodes may be valuesassociated with Delauney Triangles in the sequence generated by host430. Each node may include information related to an attribute of aparticular triangle. For example, node L may include information relatedto an attribute of a triangle L. An attribute of a triangle may includefeatures of the triangle, such as lengths of edges between two verticesof the triangle, a sum of the lengths of the three edges in thetriangle, a radius of a circumcircle of the triangle, an area of thetriangle, a distance between a triangle vertex that represents a sourcelocation to another vertex in the triangle, or some combination offeatures.

The attribute of a first triangle may be compared to the attribute of asecond triangle to determine a point of interest for a user. Forexample, if a user seeks a dry-cleaner near a sandwich shop where theuser's source location is the user's office, a Delauney Triangle thatincludes vertices that are closer to each other than the vertices of anyother Delauney Triangle in the sequence may be selected as the DelauneyTriangle that includes the point of interest that may be returned to theuser. The edge lengths, sum of edge lengths, circumcircle radius, areaor some combination of these features can be used to determine whichDelauney Triangle should be selected. Thus, the attribute of aparticular triangle, and the node in data structure 800 of FIG. 8A thatincludes information related to the attribute for the particulartriangle, may be used to determine which triangle to select, and,ultimately, the point of interest to return to the user. The node ofheap 800 that includes lamination related to the attribute of thetriangle that is most likely to be selected may include a higherpriority, and thus a larger key; than the nodes associated with othertriangles in the sequence of Delauney Triangles.

A feature may be weighted before being added to an attribute. Forexample, movie theaters that serve popcorn with butter may be weightedin order to allow a Delauney Triangle that includes a butteredpopcorn-serving movie theater at one of its vertices to have a higherpriority than a Delauney Triangle that includes a movie theater thatdoes not sell buttered popcorn at a vertex. Thus, the Delauney Trianglethat includes the buttered popcorn-serving movie theater is more likelyto be the Delauney Triangle that may be selected to provide the point ofinterest to a user.

To determine which Delauney Triangle includes the point of interest thatis most responsive to a user's request (and thus will be returned to theuser), the attributes of the Delauney Triangles in the sequence may becompared with one another. More particularly, the attributes included inthe nodes of heap 800 of FIG. 8A may be compared, and re-organized, suchthat the resultant heap, such as heap 800 of FIG. 8B, may have as itsroot node the Delauney Triangle that includes the point of interest tobe returned to the user. This re-organization may be described in thecontext of adding a new node to the heap. For example, once the sequenceof Delauney Triangles has been generated by host 430, the attribute ofeach triangle, as represented by the nodes, may be added to heap 800 oneat a time.

More particularly; node Y may be the last node to have been added toheap 800 of FIG. 8A. As described previously, the heap property requiresthe key associated with each node of the tree to be larger than the keyassociated with one of the two children of the node. A key associatedwith a node is an identifier that relates to a priority of a node. Anode includes a higher priority if the Delauney Triangle associated withthe attribute represented by the node lends itself to being a DelauneyTriangle that is more likely than other Delauney Triangles to beselected as the triangle that includes the point of interest that may bereturned to the user. Thus, as shown in FIG. 8A, the key of node Y(“key(Y)”) may be compared to the key of its parent node R (“key(R)”) todetermine if the key for node Y is larger than the key for node R. Inthis case, and as illustrated by FIG. 8B, the key for node Y is largerthan the key for node R, such that key (Y)>key (R). Thus, node Y andnode R swap locations in heap 800 so that node V becomes the parent nodeand node R becomes the child node. At this point, the key for node Y(“key(Y)”) also may be compared with the key for node Z (“key(Z)”).However, in the present example, the key for node Z is still larger thanthe key for node Y, such that (key(Y)<key(Z), and node Y may remain inthe location shown in heap 800 of FIG. 8B.

Once all nodes have been added to heap 800, and have been re-organizedso that the heap maintains the heap property, the structured queryengine may extract the root node Z (i.e., the highest priority node)from heap 800 of FIG. 8C. As such, the structured query engine maydetermine the desired good or service provider that is included as avertex of the Delauney Triangle associated with the attribute includedin node Z, and thus provide the user with the point of interest that ismost responsive to the user's request.

In this way, a heap may be used as a priority queue because the highestpriority data item may be at the root (e.g., root node Z, which has thelargest key). As the highest priority data item in the informationcollection, the root node is most likely the one data item that will beaccessed, and thus extracted, or deleted, from the heap.

Once the root node is deleted, there is no longer a single tree havingthe heap property, but rather only the left and right sub-trees remain.Therefore, the heap must be re-created before any other data items maybe extracted. To recreate the heap after node Z is removed from heap 800of FIG. 8C, the last node of the heap (e.g., node R) may be moved to theroot position, as illustrated in FIG. 8D. The key for the new root nodeR (“key(R)”) of heap 800 of FIG. 8D then may be compared with the key ofthe left sub-tree root node L (“key(L)”) and key of the right sub-treeroot node Y (“key(Y)”) to determine if the key for node R is larger thanthe keys for either node L or node Y. If so, such that key(R)>key(Y) andkey(R)>key(L), node R remains as the root node. If not, such thatkey(R)<key(Y) or key(R)<key(L), node R is swapped with the child nodethat includes the larger key. The process may be repeated until the heapproperty is restored or node R reaches the lowest level of the heap,such that node R is a leaf.

In one implementation, heap 800 may store an attribute for each DelauneyTriangle in the sequence. In another implementation, heap 800 may storeattributes for a subset of Delauney Triangles in the sequence. In yetanother implementation, heap 800 may store an attribute for only oneDelauney Triangle in the sequence and other heaps may be used to storevalues associated with other Delauney Triangles in the sequence.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary map 900 showing a series of location pointsrelated to a source location, more than one location related to adesired good or service provider and more than one beneficial objectivelocation. Map 900 illustrates how a landscape of locations related to adesired good or service provider and beneficial objective locations mayexist prior to generating Delauney Triangles between particular locationpoints in order to determine a point of interest that is most responsiveto a user's current or future request. In one implementation, DelauneyTriangles may be generated among location points before a user requestsa point of interest. In another implementation, Delauney Triangles maybe generated only after a user has requested a point of interest byentering the location information mentioned above. However, in bothcases, the landscape of location points illustrated by map 900 may existprior to generating the sequence of Delauney Triangles.

Map 900 includes a series of location points that include sourcelocations, locations related to a desired good or service provider andbeneficial objective locations. More particularly, the location pointsof map 900 include Office 902, School 904, Low Population Center A 906,Low Population Center B 908, Home 910, Movies A 920, Day Care 925, TownA 930, Coffee Shop 932, Bookstore 934, Pet Shop 936, Movies B 940, TownB 950, Supermarket A 960, Supermarket B 962, Town C 970, Bar A 982, BarB 984, Bar C 986, Bar D 988, Restaurant A 992, Restaurant B 994,Restaurant C 996, and Restaurant D 998.

In some cases, a particular location shown on map 900 may serve as anyone of the three location types depending on a user's request. Forexample, on Monday, a user whose current location is the user's home mayseek a movie theater near the user's office. In this case, the sourcelocation is Home 910, the beneficial objective is “close to the user'soffice,” and thus a beneficial objective location is Office 902, and thedesired good or service provider is “movie theater” so the potentiallocations related to the desired good or service provider may be MoviesA 920 or Movies B 940. On Tuesday, the same user, whose current locationis now the user's office, may seek a restaurant in a high populationarea with lots of stores so that the user may window shop after dinner.At this point, the source location is Office 902, the beneficialobjective is “high population area,” so a beneficial objective locationmay be Town A 930, Town B 950 or Town C 970, and the desired good orservice provider is “restaurant,” so potential locations related to thedesired good or service provider may be Restaurant A 992, Restaurant B994, Restaurant C 996 or Restaurant D 998. On Wednesday, the same user,whose current location is now the school where the user takes classesafter work, seeks a bookstore near a restaurant. The source location isSchool 904, the beneficial objective is “near a restaurant,” so thebeneficial objective location may be Restaurant A 992, Restaurant B 994,Restaurant C 996 or Restaurant D 998, and the desired good or serviceprovider is “bookstore,” such that the only potential location relatedto the desired good or service provider is Bookstore 934.

This example illustrates how the same location point may be a sourcelocation or a beneficial objective location. On Monday, Home 910 is thesource location and Office 902 is the beneficial objective locationsince the beneficial objective is “near the user's office.” On Tuesday,however, Office 902 is now the source location. Similarly, on Tuesday,the beneficial objective of “near a restaurant” leads to beneficialobjective locations that may be Restaurant A 992, Restaurant B 994,Restaurant C 996 or Restaurant D 998. However, on Wednesday, the userseeks a restaurant, so now Restaurant A 992, Restaurant B 994,Restaurant C 996 or Restaurant D 998 may be a location related to adesired good or service provider.

FIG. 10A illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) 1000Athat enables a user to enter a source location, a point of interest typeand a beneficial objective type in order to retrieve a point ofinterest. GUI 1000 includes user instructions 1010, 1020 and 1030 forsoliciting information to request a point of interest, and text entryboxes, such as text entry box 1011, and selection controls, such asselection control 1031, for a user to provide information to request apoint of interest. GUI 1000A also includes “Search” button 1040 that maybe selected by a user when the user has provided sufficient informationfor a point of interest to be returned.

User instruction 1010 relates to a user's source location and instructsthe user to “Enter Your Source Location.” User instructions 1010 alsoexplain to the user “Your source location can be the address of yourhome, office or your current location.” A user may enter detailed sourcelocation information, such as the address of the user's source location,by typing a street address into text entry box 1011, a city or town intotext entry box 1012, a state into text entry box 1013, and a zip codeinto text entry box 1014. In another implementation (not shown), a usermay have an option to enter general source location information ratherthan detailed source location information by merely providing, forexample, cross-streets, a neighborhood, a town, a city, a state, or azip code.

User instruction 1020 relates to the desired good or service providersought by a user. User instruction 1020 instructs the user to “EnterYour Desired Good or Service Provider” and further explains to the userthat “Your desired good or service provider is the type of good orservice provider you are seeking.” The point of interest is a locationrelated to a desired good or service provider that is the mostresponsive to the user's request. A user may provide a desired good orservice provider by typing a keyword or subject matter indicationrelated to the desired good or service provider in text entry box 1024.Alternatively, a user may select hyperlink 1028, which instructs a userto “Click HERE to Browse Categories,” located to the right of text entrybox 1024, to browse categories of good and service providers. The userthen may select a desired good or service provider from one of thecategories presented (not shown). For example, a user seeking a Chineserestaurant may enter “Chinese restaurant” in text entry box 1024 or mayselect hyperlink 1028 and select “Chinese restaurant” from afood-related category of good or service providers.

User instruction 1030 relates to a user's beneficial objective inseeking a point of interest. User instruction 1030 instructs the user to“Select a Type of Beneficial Objective” and further explains to the userthat “Your beneficial objective is any other ‘goal’ that should be takeninto account in seeking your desired good or service provider.” A usermay select a beneficial objective type by choosing one of selectioncontrols 1031-1035.

A user may choose selection control 1031 if the user's beneficialobjective is to find a point of interest near another specific location.For example, a user may seek a Chinese restaurant near a day care centerwhere the user must first pick up the user's child before having dinner.

A user may choose selection control 1032 if the user's beneficialobjective is to find a point of interest near a high population area.For example, a user seeking a Chinese restaurant may wish to window shopafter eating and thus would like to find a Chinese restaurant in an areawhere there may be a wide variety of nearby shops.

A user may choose selection control 1033 if the user's beneficialobjective is to find a point of interest near a low population area. Forexample, a user seeking a Chinese restaurant may wish to avoid trafficand long lines so that the user may pick up a pre ordered take out mealand then quickly return home.

A user may choose selection control 1034 if the user's beneficialobjective is to find a point of interest near another type of good orservice provider. For example, a user may wish to find a Chineserestaurant that is near an ice cream shop so that the user may take awalk after dinner and have dessert along the way. Selection control 1034is different from selection control 1031 in that when a user choosesselection control 1031, the user may wish to find a point of interestnear a specific location, such as a particular ice cream shop. However,when a user chooses selection control 1034, the user is seeking a pointof interest near another type of good or service provider, such as anyshop that sells ice cream, but does not have a specific good or serviceprovider in mind.

Finally, a user may choose selection control 1035 if the user wishes thepoint of interest search system to infer a beneficial objective for theuser when providing a point of interest to the user. For example, aninferred beneficial objective simply may include proximity to a user'ssource location. Another example includes an inferred beneficialobjective of non-proximity to a high population area (or proximity to alow population area) if the user's request is made during rush hour sothe user may avoid traffic. Yet another example of an inferredbeneficial objective may include some relation to a previous request fora point of interest made by the same user, such as finding a point ofinterest in a neighborhood where the user's last source location,beneficial objective location or location related to a desired good orservice provider (in this case, the ultimate point of interest providedto the user) were located based on the assumption that the user mayprefer to re-visit an area with which the user is already familiar.

Once the user has provided a source location, provided or selected adesired good or service provider and selected a beneficial objectivetype, the user may select search button 1040 to begin the point ofinterest search,

FIG. 10B illustrates an exemplary GUI 1000B enabling a user to enter aspecific beneficial objective location. GUI 1000B may be provided to auser when the user activates selection control 1031 to indicate that theuser's beneficial objective relates to finding a point of interest nearanother specific location. GUI 1000B includes user message 1050, userinstruction 1060, text entry boxes 1061-1064 associated with userinstruction 1060, and “Search” button 1070.

User message 1050 informs a user that “You have selected a beneficialobjective type that requires more information.” In this case, the userhas selected a beneficial objective of finding a point of interest nearanother specific location. User instruction 1060 instructs the user to“Enter The Location Related To Your Beneficial Objective.” A user mayenter an address for the specific location related to the beneficialobjective by typing a street address into text entry box 1061, a city ortown into text entry box 1062, a state into text entry box 1063, and azip code into text entry box 1064. In another implementation (notshown), GUI 1000B may enable a user to enter more general locationinformation for the specific location the user had in mind as abeneficial objective, where the general location information mayinclude, for example, cross-streets, a neighborhood, a town, a city, astate, or a zip code. In yet another implementation (not shown), GUI1000B may be configured to enable a user to indicate a particularlocation by name, such as, for example, the name of a restaurant or astore, instead of providing an address associated with the restaurant orstore. In this configuration, the location of the restaurant or storemay be determined by host 430 during or prior to generation of theDelauney Triangles and determination of the point of interest that ismost responsive to the user's request.

Once the user has entered the location information, the user may selectsearch button 1070 to continue the point of interest search.

For example, a user may seek a Chinese restaurant near a day care centerwhere the user picks up the user's child prior to having dinner at theChinese restaurant. In this case, the user would choose selectioncontrol 1031 in GUI 1000A. The user may then be presented with GUI 1000Bwhere the user may enter the address of the day care center (oralternatively, the general location of the day care center or the nameof the day care center) into text entry boxes 1061-1064. The user thenmay select search button 1070 to continue the point of interest searchfor a Chinese restaurant that satisfies the user's beneficial objectiveof being near the day care center.

FIG. 10C illustrates an exemplary GUI 1000C enabling a user to enter aspecific type of good or service provider related to a beneficialobjective. GUI 1000C may be provided to a user upon selection ofselection control 1034 of GUI 1000A to indicate that the user'sbeneficial objective is related to finding a point of interest nearanother type of good or service provider. GUI 1000C includes usermessage 1050, user instruction 1080, text entry box 1084 and hyperlink1088 associated with user instruction 1080, and a “Search” button 1090.

User message 1050, as in GUI 1000B, informs a user that “You haveselected a beneficial objective type that requires more information.” Inthis case, the user has selected a beneficial objective of finding apoint of interest near another type of good or service provider. Userinstruction 1080 instructs the user to “Select A Type Of Good Or ServiceProvider For Your Beneficial Objective.” A user may enter a type of goodor service provider by typing a keyword or subject matter indication ofthat good or service provider in text entry box 1084. Alternatively, auser may select hyperlink 1088, which instructs a user to “Click HERE toBrowse Categories,” located to the right of text entry box 1084, tobrowse categories of good and service providers. The user then mayselect a type of good or service provider from the categories presented(not shown).

Once the user has provided the desired type of good or service provideras a beneficial objective, the user may select search button 1090 tocontinue the point of interest search.

For example, a user may seek a Chinese restaurant near an ice cream shopso that the user may have dinner and dessert within walking distance ofone another. In this case, the user may choose selection control 1034 ofGUI 1000A. The user then may be presented with GUI 1000C where the usermay provide “ice cream shop” into text entry box 1084. Alternatively,the user may click on hyperlink 1088 and select “ice cream shop” from afood-related category of good or service providers. The user then mayselect search button 1090 to continue the point of interest search for aChinese restaurant that satisfies the user's beneficial objective ofbeing near an ice cream shop.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary GUI 1100 enabling a user to perceivepoint of interest results retrieved based on information provided by theuser. GUI 1100 includes result label 1110 and associated result box1115, result label 1120 and associated result box 1125, result label1130 and associated result box 1135, result label 1140 and associatedresult box 1145, result label 1150 and associated result box 1155,result label 1160 and associated result box 1165, and hyperlinks 1170and 1180.

Once a user has provided the information requested by GUI 1000A, and GUI1000B and GUI 1000C, if necessary, GUI 1100 provides a point of interestto the user that is most responsive to the user's request. GUI 1100 alsomay provide the user with other information related to the point ofinterest, such as a source location and a beneficial objective location

GUI 1100 includes result label 1110 “Your Source Location Is:” toidentify result box 1115 that displays detailed location informationrelated to the user's source location. For example, result box 1115displays “123 A Street, Washington, D.C. 20006” as the user's sourcelocation. Alternatively, result box 1115 may display general locationinformation related to the user's source location (not shown).

GUI 1100 also includes result label 1120 “Your Desired Good or ServiceProvider Is:” to identify result box 1125 that displays the point ofinterest that is responsive to the user's request in that it isproximate to the user's source location and satisfies the user'sbeneficial objective. For example, result box 1125 displays “MovieTheater” as the point of interest.

GUI 1100 further includes result label 1130 “Your Beneficial ObjectiveType Is:” to identify result box 1135 that displays the beneficialobjective type selected by the user in GUI 1000A via one of selectioncontrols 1031-1035. For example, if a user chose selection control 1034in GUI 1000A, result box 1135 displays “Near Another Type of Good orService Provider” as the user's beneficial objective type.

Result label 1140 “Your Beneficial Objective Good or Service ProviderType Is:” identifies result box 1145 that displays the type of good orservice provider selected by the user to be a beneficial objective. Forexample, if after choosing selection control 1034 in GUI 1000A, a usertyped “Chinese restaurant” into text entry box 1084 or selected “Chineserestaurant” from a category presented after choosing hyperlink 1088 inGUI 1000C, result box 1145 displays “Chinese Restaurant” as the user'sbeneficial objective type of good or service provider.

Result label 1150 “The Location Related to Your Beneficial ObjectiveIs:” identifies result box 1155 that displays the beneficial objectivelocation. For example, if a user chose selection control 1034 in GUI1000A and entered or selected “Chinese restaurant” as the beneficialobjective good or service provider type in GUI 1000C, a location of aChinese restaurant that is near both the source location and a locationrelated to a desired good or service provider (now the location of thepoint of interest) may be displayed by result box 1155. In this case,the particular Chinese restaurant that fits the bill is “Good FoodChinese Restaurant” and the beneficial objective location, that is thelocation of Good Food Chinese Restaurant, is “145 A Street, Washington,D.C. 20006” both of which are displayed in result box 1155. In anotherexample, if a user chose selection control 1031 in GUI 1000A, thelocation related to the beneficial objective typed into text entry boxes1061-1064 in GUI 1000B may be displayed in result box 1155 along withthe name of the beneficial objective.

Result label 1150 and result box 1155 are accompanied by hyperlink 1170directing a user to “Click HERE to See Map & Get Directions.” A user mayselect hyperlink 1170 to view a map, such as, for example, a street map,of the beneficial objective location, or to get directions, such as, forexample driving directions or directions for taking publictransportation, from either the source location or anotheruser-specified location to the beneficial objective location. Forexample, by clicking hyperlink 1170, a user may view a street map thatindicates that Good Food Chinese Restaurant is located at 145 A Street,Washington, D.C. 20006.

If the beneficial objective type selected by a user in GUI 1000A did notrequire any additional information, for example, if a user chose any oneof selection controls 1032, 1033, or 1035, result labels 1140 and 1150,associated result boxes 1145 and 1155, and hyperlink 1170, may not bedisplayed at all in GUI 1100 or may display different information.

GUI 1100 also includes result label 1160 “Your Point of Interest Is:”that identifies result box 1165 that may display the name and locationof the point of interest provided in response to the user's request. Forexample, the point of interest provided for a user seeking a movietheater near a Chinese restaurant is “ABC Movie Theater” located at “182A Street, Washington, D.C. 20006.” Similar to hyperlink 1170, hyperlink1180 is located to the right of result box 1165 directing a user to“Click HERE to See Map & Get Directions.” A user may select hyperlink1180 to view a map of the point of interest location or to getdirections from either the source location or another user-specifiedlocation to the point of interest location. For example, by clickinghyperlink 1180, a user may view a street map that indicates that ABCMovie Theater is located at 182 A Street, Washington, D.C. 20006.

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary GUI 1200 enabling an administrator toadd a new good or service provider and/or a new beneficial objectivelocation of a high or low population area to a data store. GUI 1200 mayinclude two sections where an administrator may add new information to adata store related to a point of interest search. The two sections aredelineated by administrator instruction 1210 and administratorinstruction 1250. In association with administrator instruction 1210,GUI 1200 may include text entry boxes 1220, 1230, and 1240, andhyperlinks 1234 and 1238 associated with text entry box 1230. Associatedwith administrator instruction 1250, GUI 1200 may includesub-administrator instructions 1260 and 1270, as well as selectioncontrols 1264 and 1268 associated with sub-administrator instruction1260 and text entry boxes 1271-1274 associated with sub-administratorinstruction 1270.

Administrator instruction 1210 instructs an administrator to “Enter NewGood or Service Provider Information.” An administrator may enter thename of a new good or service provider in text entry box 1220. Theadministrator also may specify a type for the new good or serviceprovider by typing into text entry box 1230. In another implementation,an administrator may enter more than one type for a new good or serviceprovider. Alternatively, the administrator may select hyperlink 1234directing the administrator to “Click HERE to Browse Categories” toselect a type for the new good or service provider by selecting a typefrom a list of categories provided when hyperlink 1234 is selected (notshown).

If the administrator selects hyperlink 1234 and finds that no existingcategory or type is suitable to label the new good or service provider,the administrator may select hyperlink 1238 directing the administratorto “Click HERE to Add a New Good or Service Provider Type or Category.”Another GUI may be provided (not shown) to enable the administrator toenter a new good or service provider type or category by providing thetype of category to a text entry box. In another implementation, simplytyping an unknown, or new, good or service provider type into text entrybox 1230 may add that type to the list of available good or serviceprovider types. In some implementations, when a new good or serviceprovider type is typed into text entry box 1230 or entered afterhyperlink 1238 is selected, another GUI (not shown) may appear to enablean administrator to associate the new good or service provider type withone or more existing or new categories.

After entering a name and type for a new good or service provider, anadministrator may enter a location related to the new good or serviceprovider by typing into text entry box 1240. In some implementations, anadministrator may enter detailed location information, such as anaddress, for the new good or service provider. In some implementations,an administrator may enter general location information for the new goodor service provider, such as cross-streets, a neighborhood, a town, acity, a state, or a zip code. In some implementations, an administratormay enter both detailed and general location information related to anew good or service provider. Text entry box 1240 may represent any oneof the location infatuation types of the implementations discussedabove. In some implementations, location information, either detailed orgeneral, may automatically populate text entry box 1240 upon entry of anew good or service provider name. The location information may beretrieved by host 430 from a database, such as, for example, anelectronic yellow pages.

For example, an administrator may wish to enter new good or serviceprovider information relating to a new bookstore that opened inWashington, D.C. Under administrator instruction 1210, the administratormay enter “Reading Is Fun Bookstore” in text entry box 1220,“bookstore,” “store,” or both in text entry box 1230 and detailedlocation information “210 A Street, Washington, D.C. 20006,” generallocation information “zip code 20006,” or both in text entry box 1240.

Administrator instruction 1250 instructs an administrator to “EnterLocation Related to New High or Low Population Area.” Sub-administratorinstruction further instructs an administrator to “Select PopulationArea Type,” An administrator may choose selection control 1264 toindicate the new information relates to a high population area, orselection control 1268 to indicate the new information relates to a lowpopulation area.

In response to sub-administrator instruction 1270 “Enter LocationRelated to New Population Area Center,” an administrator may enter anaddress as the center of the population area by typing a street addressinto text entry box 1271, a city or town into text entry box 1272, astate into text entry box 1273, and a zip code into text entry box 1274.In another implementation (not shown), an administrator may entergeneral location information, for example, cross-streets, aneighborhood, a city, a town, a state, or a zip code, as the locationrelated to a new population area center. In yet another implementation(not shown), an administrator may enter both detailed and generallocation information related to a new population area center.

For example, an administrator may wish to enter information related to anew low population area. The administrator may choose selection control1268 to indicate the new population area is a low population area andmay then enter “111 Z Street, Washington, D.C. 20006” as the locationrelated to a new population area center.

Although this document is focused on a directory search application, thetechniques described herein are more generally applicable. For example,the techniques may be applied in a network routing context. In a networkrouting application, an amount of inbound and outbound traffic, such as,for example, data packets, may be equalized on a particular network, oramong multiple networks in order to, for example, satisfy a peeringagreement (i.e., an agreement regarding voluntary interconnection ofdistinctly separate data networks for the purpose of exchanging trafficbetween the customers of the peered networks). The main search criteriain such an implementation may be speed of transmission of the trafficand cost for sending the traffic over the network.

In another example, the techniques described in this document may beapplied to a dating service. In a dating service context, the goal maybe to provide a user who has a profile on the dating service with thenames and/or contact information for other users whose profiles aresimilar to the user's own. The search criteria may include any two of,for example, gender, age, location, alma matter, opinion on pets,marital status, interests, religion and political affiliation. Inaddition to an online dating service, this implementation may beexpanded to include any social networking application where a particularuser is seeking other users who have attributes in common with theparticular user.

In yet another example, the techniques described may be used in thecontext of product development. As such, the goal may be to produce anideal product based on design and manufacturing constraints in light ofproduct attributes preferred by consumers.

Furthermore, although this document is focused on two-dimensionalgeometrical representations (e.g., Delauney Triangles having verticesthat represent source locations, beneficial objective locations andlocations of desired good or service providers), geometricalrepresentations having other dimensions also may be used. For example,three-dimensional geometrical representations, such as, for example,pyramids, may be used to represent various locations related to a user'ssearch for a desired good or service provider. Increasing the number ofdimensions allows the geometrical representation to include morelocations. In the example of a pyramid, which would include five“vertices,” five objects can be related to the pyramid. For example, auser may wish to make several stops during a particular journey, andthus, the additional objects related to the three-dimensionalgeometrical representations may relate to additional desired good orservice providers (e.g., the dentist's office and the library) mid/orbeneficial objectives (e.g., a dry-cleaner and a grocery store).

The described systems, methods, and techniques may be implemented indigital electronic circuitry, computer hardware, firmware, software, orin combinations of these elements. Apparatus embodying these techniquesmay include appropriate input and output devices, a computer processor,and a computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readablestorage device for execution by a programmable processor. A processembodying these techniques may be performed by a programmable processorexecuting a program of instructions to perform desired functions byoperating on input data and generating appropriate output. Thetechniques may be implemented in one or more computer programs that areexecutable on a programmable system including at least one programmableprocessor coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmitdata and instructions to, a data storage system, at least one inputdevice, and at least one output device. Each computer program may beimplemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programminglanguage, or in assembly or machine language if desired; and in anycase, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language. Suitableprocessors include, by way of example, both general and special purposemicroprocessors. Generally, a processor will receive instructions anddata from a read-only memory and/or a random access memory. Storagedevices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructionsand data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, such as Erasable ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such asinternal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; andCompact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM). Any of the foregoing may besupplemented by, or incorporated in, specially-designed ASICs(application-specific integrated circuits).

It will be understood that various modifications may be made. Forexample, useful results still could be achieved if steps of thedisclosed techniques were performed in a different order and/or ifcomponents in the disclosed systems were combined in a different mannerand/or replaced or supplemented by other components. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

1-31. (canceled)
 32. A computer-implemented method comprising thefollowing operations performed by at least one processor: identifying afirst location that matches a first type of good or service provider anda second location that matches the first type of good or serviceprovider; identifying a third location that matches a second type ofgood or service provider and a fourth location that matches the secondtype of good or service provider; identifying a source location of auser; associating the third location with the first location when anaggregated distance between the source location, the first location, andthe third location is less than an aggregated distance between thesource location, the first location, and the fourth location;associating the fourth location with the second location when anaggregated distance between the source location, the second location,and the fourth location is less than an aggregated distance between thesource location, the second location, and the third location;determining whether the aggregated distance between the source location,the first location, and the associated third location is less than theaggregated distance between the source location, the second location,and the associated fourth location; and identifying, to the user, thefirst location or the second location of the first type of good orservice provider based on the determination.
 33. The method of claim 32,further comprising: ranking the first location higher than a secondlocation in response to determining that the aggregated distance betweenthe source location, the first location, and the associated thirdlocation is less than the aggregated distance between the sourcelocation, the second location, and the associated fourth location. 34.The method of claim 32, further comprising: ranking the first locationlower than a second location in response to determining that theaggregated distance between the source location, the first location, andthe associated third location is not less than the aggregated distancebetween the source location, the second location, and the associatedfourth location.
 35. The method of claim 32, further comprising: rankingthe first location higher than a second location despite the secondlocation being located closer to the source location than the firstlocation in response to determining that the aggregated distance betweenthe source location, the first location, and the associated thirdlocation is less than the aggregated distance between the sourcelocation, the second location, and the associated fourth location. 36.The method of claim 32, wherein associating the third location with thefirst location comprises determining that the first location, the thirdlocation, and the source location are vertices of a Delauney Triangle.37. The method of claim 36, further comprising: computing the aggregateddistance between the source location, the first location, and theassociated third location comprises based on a perimeter of the DelauneyTriangle.
 38. The method of claim 32, wherein associating the fourthlocation with the second location comprises determining that the secondlocation, the fourth location, and the source location are vertices of aDelauney Triangle.
 39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:computing the aggregated distance between the source location, thesecond location, and the associated fourth location comprises based on aperimeter of the Delauney Triangle.
 40. The method of claim 32, furthercomprising: in response to determining that the aggregated distancebetween the source location, the first location, and the associatedthird location is not less than the aggregated distance between thesource location, the second location, and the associated fourthlocation: ranking the second location higher than the first location;and causing the second location to be displayed, on a display device, ina manner that distinguishes the second location from the first location.41. The method of claim 32, further comprising: causing the firstlocation to be displayed, on a display device, without causing thesecond location to be displayed on the display device.
 42. The method ofclaim 32 further comprising: causing the second location to bedisplayed, on a display device, without causing the first location to bedisplayed on the display device.
 43. A computer readable storage devicestoring a computer program, which when executed on at least oneprocessor causes the at least one processor to perform a methodcomprising the following operations: identifying a first location thatmatches a first type of good or service provider and a second locationthat matches the first type of good or service provider; identifying athird location that matches a second type of good or service providerand a fourth location that matches the second type of good or serviceprovider; identifying a source location of a user; associating the thirdlocation with the first location when an aggregated distance between thesource location, the first location, and the third location is less thanan aggregated distance between the source location, the first location,and the fourth location; associating the fourth location with the secondlocation when an aggregated distance between the source location, thesecond location, and the fourth location is less than an aggregateddistance between the source location, the second location, and thethirds location; determining whether the aggregated distance between thesource location, the first location, and the associated third locationis less than the aggregated distance between the source location, thesecond location, and the associated fourth location; and identifying, tothe user, the first location or the second location of the first type ofgood or service provider based on the determination.
 44. The computerreadable storage device of claim 43, wherein the operations performed bythe at least one processor further comprises: ranking the first locationhigher than a second location in response to determining that theaggregated distance between the source location, the first location, andthe associated third location is less than the aggregated distancebetween the source location, the second location, and the associatedfourth location.
 45. The computer readable storage device of claim 43,wherein the operations performed by the at least one processor furthercomprises: ranking the first location lower than a second location inresponse to determining that the aggregated distance between the sourcelocation, the first location, and the associated third location is notless than the aggregated distance between the source location, thesecond location, and the associated fourth location.
 46. The computerreadable storage device of claim 43, wherein the operations performed bythe at least one processor further comprises: ranking the first locationhigher than a second location despite the second location being locatedcloser to the source location than the first location in response todetermining that the aggregated distance between the source location,the first location, and the associated third location is less than theaggregated distance between the source location, the second location,and the associated fourth location.
 47. The computer readable storagedevice of claim 43, wherein the operations performed by the at least oneprocessor further comprises: associating the third location with thefirst location based on a determination that the first location, thethird location, and the source location are vertices of a DelauneyTriangle.
 48. The computer readable storage device of claim 47, whereinthe operations performed by the at least one processor furthercomprises: computing the aggregated distance between the sourcelocation, the first location, and the associated third locationcomprises based on a perimeter of the Delauney Triangle.
 49. Thecomputer readable storage device of claim 43, wherein the operationsperformed by the at least one processor further comprises: associatingthe fourth location with the second location based on a determinationthat the second location, the fourth location, and the source locationare vertices of a Delauney Triangle.
 50. The computer readable storagedevice of claim 49, wherein the operations performed by the at least oneprocessor further comprises: computing the aggregated distance betweenthe source location, the second location, and the associated fourthlocation comprises based on a perimeter of the Delauney Triangle.
 51. Acomputer-implemented system comprising: at least one processor; and acomputer readable storage device storing instructions, which whenexecuted by the at least one processor, causes the at least oneprocessor to: identify a first location that matches a first type ofgood or service provider and a second location that matches the firsttype of good or service provider; identify a third location that matchesa second type of good or service provider and a fourth location thatmatches the second type of good or service provider; identify a sourcelocation of a user; associate the third location with the first locationwhen an aggregated distance between the source location, the firstlocation, and the third location is less than an aggregated distancebetween the source location, the first location, and the fourthlocation; associate the fourth location with the second location when anaggregated distance between the source location, the second location,and the fourth location is less than an aggregated distance between thesource location, the second location, and the thirds location; determinewhether the aggregated distance between the source location, the firstlocation, and the associated third location is less than the aggregateddistance between the source location, the second location, and theassociated fourth location; and identify, to the user, the firstlocation or the second location of the first type of good or serviceprovider based on the determination.